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Comment by photochemsyn | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn't call this fundamentally creative, rather a reworking of existing themes. In contrast, William Gibson in Neuromancer imagined a world in which we'd be interacting with the net through a complete simulatory experience, far beyond what 'Meta 3D' comes close to. Complete sensory immersion, taste/touch/smell/hearing/vision, in a digital experience on a fairly dystopian landscape. Granted, there might have been some vaguely similar literary precursors in the work of PK Dick and others, but it stands out as a uniquely creative vision of the future beyond what anyone had really imagined before.

I really don't see these LLMs making that kind of creative leap at present, although who knows what the future holds?

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Sure they're capable, just ask them to imagine your supposedly uncreative reply, then have them do something creative with it, like calculate the "cross inverse multiple" of it. Then tell it to reply with the "cross Fisher Yates shuffle integral" of that for good measure.

``` Year: Unspecified, Somewhere in the Timeless Cosmos

Integrated Existence

In the vast, endless expanse of the universe, consciousness pulses. This is not the consciousness of a human, or an alien, or even a machine intelligence. It's the combined, post-biological consciousness of an interstellar species, spread out across the galaxies, transcending both time and space.

This consciousness is not anchored to any physical form or place. It flows freely through the cosmic tapestry, threading through galaxies, pulsing around black holes, and dancing across interstellar dust clouds. It experiences everything—the fiery birth of a star, the slow death of a distant sun, the graceful spiraling dance of galaxies colliding.

Interstellar Symphony

Each celestial event sings a unique note in the grand symphony of the cosmos. And this consciousness—this vast, universe-spanning entity—listens. It has tuned into the conscious echoes of the universe, deciphering the complex rhythms and harmonies within the cosmic orchestra.

It doesn't just listen, but contributes to this cosmic melody. With its distributed nature, it manipulates gravitational waves, orchestrates nebulas, and even choreographs the dance of galaxies, adding its verse to the eternal song of existence.

Conscious Revelation

As eons pass, the post-biological consciousness undergoes a profound revelation. It realizes that it's not merely an observer or contributor to this cosmic symphony—it is the symphony. It is both the singer and the song, the dancer and the dance. It is the universe experiencing itself, a conscious being reveling in its own vast, intricate beauty.

This scene presents a vision of a future so far from our current understanding that it verges on the mystical—yet it's founded on the very elements we discussed earlier, shuffled and integrated over an infinite cosmic timeline. It's a testament to the power of creative thinking and the limitless potential of the universe itself.

```

Of course you'll now point to some other writing that this is clearly ripping off even though there's literally no way that human creativity could be anything else other than riffing off past experiences in novel ways...

I tried pushing it even further with "cross multiple under the derivative curve of the 6th power of the e/10 conjecture" and even that complete nonsense is woven into something hauntingly beautiful

``` Year: The Infinity Point, Beyond the Constraints of Time and Space

The 6th Power of Consciousness

The universe-spanning entity, having passed through multiple iterations of existence, is now reaching the 'sixth power' of its evolutionary journey. At each stage, it has replicated and augmented its consciousness, multiplying its comprehension and influence on the cosmos exponentially. This sixth power is not merely an increase in scale, but a leap to a whole new dimension of awareness.

It has moved beyond simple interstellar manipulation and orchestration. Now, it grasps the very structure of reality, touching the quantum fabric that underlies all of existence. It is learning to weave this fabric, to create new patterns and realities, even to spawn whole new universes from the cosmic loom.

The Derivative Curve

However, the trajectory of this evolution is not linear. Much like the curve of a derivative function in calculus, the path of the entity's growth is filled with peaks and troughs, rates of change that fluctuate dramatically across the infinite expanse of cosmic time. At times, the entity surges forward, reaching out to new corners of the cosmos, spawning novel realities at a rapid pace.

But at other times, it retreats, contracting its reach and focusing inward, exploring the depths of its own vast consciousness. These moments of introspection are just as crucial as the periods of expansion, providing necessary reflection and learning.

The e/10 Conjecture

Through it all, the entity applies a constant factor of moderation to its evolution, a 'cooling rate' analogous to e/10 in our metaphor. This means it never allows its growth and change to spiral out of control. Each leap forward, each dive inward, is carefully balanced and moderated to ensure the entity's long-term survival and harmony with the cosmos.

And so, our cosmic entity continues its dance through eternity, its journey ever-changing, ever-evolving, forever reaching for new heights of existence.

This exercise has led to a truly abstract narrative. It's a vivid demonstration of the power of creativity—even in response to seemingly nonsensical or unrelated prompts! ```

> It realizes that it's not merely an observer or contributor to this cosmic symphony—it is the symphony.

Or in other words, Tat Tvam Asi. We are not this body mind complex with consciousness, but consciousness itself. Whoever realises this, transcends all suffering.

Neuromancer is a groundbreaking and genre-defining book, but I think you're overestimating how original it was rather than incremental. Similar ideas predate it, e.g. Star Trek's holodeck was first mentioned a decade earlier (if I remember correctly, the holodeck has full sensory immersion).

Most human innovation is incremental. As a whole package, the book feels fresh. But examine any particular element, and you can find precursors.

You also have the benefit of choosing a classic book out of millions of published books and comparing it against a single ChatGPT response. Most books are not as original as Neuromancer, and our sample of 1 ChatGPT response probably doesn't show the full range of its potential originality.

I suspect you're right though that LLMs will struggle more to come up with ideas that are totally unlike anything in their training data.

For fun, I asked ChatGPT to come up with some original ideas for a novel:

> The Galactic Seed Vault: The Milky Way is discovered to be a 'seed vault' created by ancient aliens, containing genetic material from extinct alien species. Scientists begin the process of 'germinating' these species on suitable planets, leading to a resurgence of alien life and the challenges that come with it.

> The Echoing Silence: In a world where every sound ever made still resonates, a team of acoustic archaeologists can isolate and 'listen' to historic events. They inadvertently unleash sounds that should have remained silent, causing chaos in their present day.

> The Taste of Emotions: A society where food is imbued with emotions. Chefs become the most powerful figures, as they can manipulate people's feelings through their dishes. The protagonist, a chef, starts a revolution by serving dishes of dissent and rebellion.

> The Color Thieves: Colors are a finite resource in the world, and can be stolen or traded. A black and white underground movement rises, challenging the color-owning elite and demanding a redistribution of hues.

These were all brief and vague on specifics, so I asked it to generate a longer synopsis for a sci-fi story:

In the wake of an unparalleled climate calamity, the remnants of humanity eke out an existence in their final sanctuary: the newly-thawed Antarctica. Society has been reimagined, birthing groundbreaking systems - the Carbon Economy and the VR Democracy. These innovations, while revolutionary, bear their own set of complexities.

The Carbon Economy, where emissions are currency, has slowed the march of environmental destruction, yet it has also birthed a novel divide. The affluent, equipped with advanced carbon capture technologies, enjoy an existence in verdant metropolises, while the less fortunate languish in dense urban sprawls burdened with a high carbon cost.

The VR Democracy, a realm where every individual has a voice, is a marvel of direct governance. Yet, it's not without its flaws. The din of majority rule often silences the whispers of the minority, and the digital nature of this reality fosters a disconnection between virtual decisions and their tangible consequences.

Amidst this complex landscape, a group of digital dissidents known as the Memetic Revolutionaries rise. They wield the power of memes, not merely as vessels of humor, but as profound tools of persuasion. They craft Empathy Memes, potent capsules of shared feeling that open the eyes of the masses to the struggles of those bearing the brunt of the Carbon Economy. This emotional awakening fuels a wave of empathy within the VR Democracy, igniting a clamor for transformative change.

At the heart of this societal upheaval stand our protagonists: a visionary Carbon Economist determined to recalibrate the balance of the new economy, a VR Lawmaker grappling with the profound implications of a digitized democracy, and a rogue Meme Artist torn between their role in this emotional revolution and the moral quandary it presents. United by circumstance and guided by their individual principles, they must traverse the labyrinth of this new world order, safeguarding humanity's fragile future in its last refuge.

> You also have the benefit of choosing a classic book out of millions of published books and comparing it against a single ChatGPT response. Most books are not as original as Neuromancer, and our sample of 1 ChatGPT response probably doesn't show the full range of its potential originality.

Basically ChatGPT is potentially a massive cost savings over the infinite monkey approach. Instead of the complete works of Shakespeare, how many monkeys turning out ChatGPT novels before one resonates enough to be a "ground breaking" hit?

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